“Most of our clients know little about the law and have never hired a lawyer. The law is a scary unknown. Worse yet, their knowledge of the law often comes from online pro pers or AI that not only lacks the human touch but is subject to being horribly wrong.”

Tired of eating fees at the end of a Chapter 13 when the debtor/client gets a discharge and you get to write off the time you spent in excess of the approved fee? Meet the Bingham Provision!

A recent decision from a Hawaii bankruptcy court, inched closer to a slippery slope on the hill of nondischargeabilty, expanding the Supreme Court's Bartenwerfer decision. See also: Unjust Enrichment from Spouse’s Defalcation Leads to a Nondischargeable Debt By Leee Miyahira, Extern, Office of Nima Ghazvini (Honolulu, HI)

Jen Lee is spot-on highlighting poor client communication as the source of both individual client anguish and with discontent with the legal profession as a whole. Failure to return calls is the most frequent complaint to the state bar where I practice. See also: -Stop the Chaos and Fix Client Communication with Smart Tech -Spitballing Chapter 13’s Image Makeover -Ditch the Bankruptcy Jargon—Marketing Chapter 13 as the Ultimate Solution (Note that there are a few comments on this article.) Thoughts on a Chapter 13 image makeover? Let us hear from you.

“Three cheers for Jen Lee’s piece on the need to pitch the manifest strengths of Chapter 13. Her advice to use head-to-head comparisons with alternative approaches to debt for the client is right on. An image makeover for Chapter 13 would be even more powerful if we can spread the word to a broader audience, before they’ve shorted their tax withholding, encumbered their exempt homestead, signed on with a profit-focused ‘debt consolidation’ company, or dipped into their retirement funds.” Think Chapter 13 needs an image makeover? Let us hear from you.

From June: Bankruptcy lawyers can better present non-mortgage homeownership expenses to reflect current economic realities on the means test. By advocating for realistic expense allowances, based on a percentage of the home’s purchase price, attorneys can ensure fairer assessments and more successful bankruptcy plans. Additionally, Trustees and Judges should look at Atty Moran’s analysis here – change will take the whole village.

“ . . . , as far as I can find, no court has approved a modification that reduced the liquidation dividend when assets have lost value, such as falling stock values, catastrophic events, or business failure.”

Stay tuned as next week we will bring you the Counter-Point to Moran’s POV.

“Every extra dollar deduction you can wring out on bankruptcy’s means test is important. A dollar doesn’t sound like a lot, . . . Every $100 saves $6000. Get the picture?”

For nearly a year, I’ve been hanging out on a Facebook “bankruptcy support” group. It’s a world full of misunderstanding, fear, and anguish. But it’s also clear to me that our profession can learn some things from that stew, both individually and collectively. We need to work together to fix the disconnect. Ideas? We would love to hear them.